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Principles of Operation: Ms-Can

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2008 Mercury Milan, 2008 Lincoln MKZ, and 2008 Ford Fusion. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

The MS-CAN is a medium speed communication network that uses an unshielded twisted pair cable of data (+) and data (-) circuits. The data (+) and the data (-) circuits are each regulated to approximately 2.5 volts during neutral or rested network traffic. As bus messages are sent on the data (+) circuit, voltage is increased by approximately 1.0 volt. Inversely, the data (-) circuit is reduced by approximately 1.0 volt when a bus message is sent. Multiple bus messages can be sent over the network CAN circuits allowing multiple modules to communicate with each other. The MS-CAN will not communicate while certain faults are present, but will operate with diminished performance with other faults present. The MS-CAN may remain operational when 1 of the 2 termination resistors are not present.

The MS-CAN operates at a maximum data transfer speed of 125 Kbps for bus messages and designed for general information transfer. The network will remain operational, but at a degraded level when certain circuit faults are present. The MS-CAN may remain operational with only one termination resistor present.

The following modules are on the MS-CAN:

The following fault chart describes the specific MS-CAN failures and their resulting symptom:

MS-CAN COMMUNICATION FAULT CHART

Failure Description Symptom
MS-CAN (+) shorted to MS-CAN (-) No communication
MS-CAN (+) short to voltage No communication
MS-CAN (-) short to voltage No communication
MS-CAN (+) short to ground No communication
MS-CAN (-) short to ground Unreliable communication possible in all network modules
MS-CAN (+) open Unreliable communication possible in all network modules
MS-CAN (-) open Unreliable communication possible in all network modules
Module loss of voltage or ground No communication
Module internal failure No communication